FIVE MILES OUT

I rate this album five stars mostly by personal reasons (It's simply so good!). Nevertheless, Five Miles Out has it all: diverse music, rock, electronic/robotic (vocoder), lullabies, celtic elements, pop etc. etc. Although it's diverse, it's also very original, and positive! The massive opener, Taurus II, spanning in 25 minutes, is mostly positive all the way through (perhaps Amarok is more wittier... "Ha ha happy ?!"). Taurus II is my personal favourite and I never get bored with it. It's a matter of taste, but that's how I rate it. For this epic song alone, the album gets five stars...

Orabidoo, the second "epic" song in the album is also very good: begins and ends with a lullaby, with a progressive diverse part in the middle. It's a bit difficult to get into, but after a few listens it really rewards. A lot of vocoder is used, you either like it or not. Also one of my favourites (hence my nickname :) ).

Mount Teide is mostly a celtic song alone and is really nice listening to. The album has two pop songs, Family man and Five miles out. The first, is in my opinion the only drawback in this album, it's OK, but doesn't really fit among the rest of the songs. Five Miles Out is 110 % original, and a really interesting one to listen to. It's a song you either love or hate i suppose. I like it a lot!!!

In overall, Five Miles Out is perhaps the first album that started the more "poppier" side of Mike Oldfields music. It is quite similar to the albums QE2 and Crises, but is the best of the trilogy (meaning the Taurus-series). The Taurus-trilogy is the best concept Mike Oldfield made and he should have continued it instead of Tubular Bells (which is really only make-over after make-over). Five Miles Out is an album I listen to very frequently, because all the songs are simply great (Family Man is OK, but... it suits better in the Crises-album with Moonlight Shadow and Foreign Affair)!